[Translator – Aren]
Passion deserves rewards, as they say.
My burning desire to become a wizard had conveniently earned me exemption from overnight guard duty.
But right before my consultation with Lieutenant Shin Hangi ended, I asked the one question I absolutely had to ask.
"But is this magic thing really something you can just casually teach people?”
And just to be clear, South Korea on January 6th, 2028, was still an entirely normal, sensible country.
There were no traditional Western witches flying around on broomsticks. No shamans suddenly becoming possessed by spirits like some kind of ‘Shaman King’ protagonist. No lunatics grinding people into alchemical ingredients or to form magic circles.
At least, not as far as I knew.
Then at last, through Lieutenant Shin Hangi’s mouth, the truth of the world began to reveal itself."Baek Jemin-ssi, what exactly do you think magic is?”
"Huh? Well..."
"If you’re imagining things like flying through the sky or shooting fire from your hands, I suggest lowering your expectations.”
Lieutenant Shin Hangi handed me another booklet with a deeply serious expression.
I accepted it reflexively, only to immediately frown at the title.
"Restricted Linguistic Knowledge Sharing Following the 2028 Reserve Mobilization Declaration?”
"For convenience, we call it 'magic' because it’s easier for people to understand that way. However, within the military and public institutions, we officially refer to it as localized invasive structural alteration phenomena. And due to the mobilization order, higher command rushed this information down to us.”
"So there are secret organizations of wizards hidden around the world?”
For a moment, countless conspiracy theories and hidden masterminds behind them flashed through my mind.
But Lieutenant Shin Hangi immediately waved his hands with a stiff expression.
"What I’m about to say is classified. Not top-secret classified, but important enough. You remember the engagement guidelines, right? Rule 5: Prioritize securing any obtainable knowledge from the field. Turn the page.”
Feeling vaguely dissatisfied, I opened the booklet. Each page contained a single large, crooked symbol. Beside it were densely packed explanations.
The symbol itself looked like someone had overlapped a triangle and square together before kneading them like dough into some vaguely geometric shape. Since it was basically a triangle-square hybrid, I mentally nicknamed it ‘squangle.’
None of the lines were symmetrical. Even the lengths were inconsistent, making the whole thing look crude and amateurish.
It practically looked scribbled black with text.
"These are symbols discovered within Seoul’s restricted zones. We believe they’re a form of writing.”
"How do you even know they’re writing?”
"Because there were people who saw these symbols and read them. The text beside each one records what those people interpreted from them.”
Only then did I realize what the densely packed writing next to the squangle actually was.
The microscopic font size alone was irritating enough. It practically screamed, “We’re trying to save paper costs," but the contents annoyed me even more.
"These all say completely different things.”
Indeed. The document listed what various people claimed the symbol meant after looking at it. The problem was that every single interpretation was different.
[Original Discoverer: Restoration], [Corporal Kim OO: Severance], [Shaman: Despair], [12-Year-Old Child: Growth]...
If the meanings had at least overlapped a little, maybe you could infer some common theme. But no. Every single person had arrived at a completely different answer. It was quite baffling.
"Isn’t this just graffiti?”
"That’s not the case. We’ve confirmed these symbols produce actual effects. and because they were judged likely to play a critical role in the current unrest, the government decided to circulate this information as restricted material despite the risk of panic and confusion. We’re trying to find people capable of reading and writing them.”
Lieutenant Shin Hangi let out a long sigh before wetting his dry lips, as if his throat had gone completely parched.
"What I’m about to say stays between us, Reservist Beak Jemin.”
A shadow crossed his face.
"The government doesn’t even know whether secret organizations like that actually exist. Every instance of these symbols has only been discovered inside restricted zones, and once it was confirmed they caused negative psychological effects in people, they were classified as top secret for the past 2 months. But then the possibility was raised that some hidden group out there might already understand these symbols, which is why the material was downgraded and distributed more widely.”
"Oh, so you mean…”
"We deliberately employed the word 'magic' as well. If people who know something really are out there, we want to provoke a reaction from them. This part technically isn’t classified, but there’s no benefit in spreading it around, so please keep quiet about it.”
*t*t*
After returning to the auditorium, I absentmindedly fidgeted with the booklet in my hands.
The waiting dragged on endlessly.
Sure, a mobilization order had been declared, but not everyone had even arrived yet, and most people still hadn’t fully processed the situation.
An ominous silence lingered for nearly 2 hours.
When I checked my phone, it was already 3:58 PM.
The only thing that’d changed since the mobilization order was that around 10 more men in combat uniforms had shown up, received weapons and gear, and collapsed into chairs.
Nobody was really talking on the phone anymore. Even Kang Daniel, the hopeless romantic in horn-rimmed glasses, just furiously hammered away at his screen like his life depended on it.
I wasn’t exactly doing fine myself.
Lieutenant Shin Hangi’s words kept echoing in my mind.
I’d listened in a daze, but the conclusion boiled down to the following:
1. Localized invasive structual alteration phenomena, or 'magic,' really existed.
2. Nobody knew when magic first appeared or where it came from.
3. The South Korean government was currently sharing knowledge of this language with the United States and attempting to decipher it using multiple data centers and AI language models. However, every decryption attempt caused unexplained overloads in both the language models and associated hardware, making analysis nearly impossible.
But the most important part had been something else entirely.
'Baek Jemin-ssi, this request is being made under the assumption, however slim the chances might be, that you may genuinely understand this script. The situation is deteriorating rapidly. Approximately 40% of military units deployed within Seoul have either become isolated or gone completely dark, and even the units stationed along the outskirts have failed to properly contain civilian unrest within the city. If you possess even the slightest sense of compassion and duty toward your country, then please cooperate with us.’
The weight behind those words was so heavy that it honestly made me feel guilty.
Baek Jemin. 28 years old. Proudly unemployed.
A guy whose only notable qualifications were some shallow scraps of random knowledge and the fact that his company had gone bankrupt 2 months ago. I wasn’t politically informed, didn’t possess specialized expertise, and had basically coasted through like accomplishing nothing. Hearing such serious words from a respectable-looking military officer felt embarrassingly undeserved.
And yet those overwhelming truths kept crashing down on me.
The moment I heard that 40% of the military units stationed in Seoul had gone isolated or missing, my immediate thought was, ‘Surely I’m not the only person unaffected by these symbols?’
And just as expected…
In the middle of the tense silence, one scruffy-bearded reservist who’d been practically shoving his face into his phone suddenly shouted like he was screaming.
"What the hell?! 30% of the Seoul military units have already been wiped out?!”
At moments like this, screaming or panicking alongside everyone else was amateur behavior.
Every single person in the auditorium, including the reservists glued to their phones and even the reserve commander still making calls, turned to stare at the scruffy-bearded man.
Realizing the entire room’s attention had landed on him, the man awkwardly bowed his head a few times and quickly shut up again.
But there was no denying it. That single sentence had left a deep ripple of fear in everyone’s hearts.
Sure, what he’d said differed from the information I’d heard earlier, but the core point remained the same.
I just couldn’t make myself believe any of this.
Fog started appearing in Seoul around late November 2027. Then the moment the New Year began, a mobilization order got declared. Magic existed. And 40% of the military units stationed in Seoul, so basically half of them, were already in critical danger.
Anyone capable of processing all that information at once was insane.
Besides, I hadn’t seen any of it firsthand.
For the first time in my life, I finally understood conspiracy theorists who insisted they’d never believe anything unless they saw it themselves. Because I couldn’t believe this shit either.
Still, the ominous silence didn’t last long.
Apparently the droopy-eyed reserve commander had decided nobody else was coming, or perhaps he’d realized there was no longer escaping reality, because he finally began organizing squads.
"Total roster of 43 reservists. 25 actually responded to the mobilization order. Our country sure is doing great, huh?”
Sighing deeply, the commander called over the active-duty soldiers under him and began distributing armbands and identification bands.
The 25 unlucky bastards left carrying this burden simply waited there with grim expressions.
Then came the commander’s surprise New Year’s gift announcement.
"We’ll divide the 25 of you into four squads of roughly 6 men each. 2 squads will handle guard duty at the community center and surrounding roads, while the other 2 go retrieve the comrades who still haven’t reported in despite the mobilization order. You’ll each receive live ammunition, but do not load your rifles. Take 2 magazines.
At that, Kim Myungshin, the narrow-eyed reservist proudly wearing the armband, lit up with excitement.
"Commander, I’m pretty good at that kind of thing. Can I drag them in?”
"Let’s not use the phrase “drag them in”… Just persuade them to report before the military police get involved. If they show up today, we can keep this from becoming a criminal issue or ruining their records."
"Tsk. Okay, okay."
"Good, good. Each squad leader will explain your assignments, so start getting ready. Since we’re officially under mobilization now, we’ll be operating under wartime procedures. I’m dropping the polite speech from here on out, so don’t take it personally. Now then…Split up into squads!”
Whether by bad luck or good fortune, I ended up assigned to road security instead of the reservist-hunting squad.
The good news was that I wouldn't be wasting energy tracking people down. The bad news was that I’d apparently be physically setting up roadblocks myself.
And the weirdest part of all was that the leader of our road security squad was none other than Kang Daniel, the hopeless romantic with the horn-rimmed glasses.
The moment Kang Daniel put on the armband, he clasped both hands together, bowed his head with utmost sincerity, and started mumbling fervently.
"To the Almighty Lord belong the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever…Lead us not into the temptations of Satan…Deliver us from the grip of evil and allow us only to follow Your will…”
Watching him, I subtly glanced toward the other squad members.
Former Army, Navy, and Air Force personnel were all mixed together in the road security squad, but every single one of them seemed to be thinking the exact same thing, judging from their frowns and exhausted expressions.
Since I happened to be standing closest, I figured it was best for me to say something.
"Erm, Squad Leader?”
"So that Your authority may remain upon this land..."
"Kang Daniel-ssi, we need to block the roads. Okay?”
"Yes, yes. Let’s just pray first. Pray.”
"No, let’s block the roads, then pray. Seriously, we need to move right now.”
If he’d been a genuine lunatic, this would've been the part where he shouted, 'Halt!' How dare you interrupt a sacred testimony offered unto the Lord by questioning His faithful servant!’
Fortunately, Kang Daniel was a perfectly normal person with merely an extremely intense level of religious devotion.
After adjusting his glasses beneath the squad’s collective dead-eyed stares, he hurriedly checked his rifle and field gear before taking the lead.
*t*t*
"Let’s start by setting up sandbags and vehicle barriers. One person handles traffic, one person rests while keeping watch on civilians nearby, and the remaining four carry supplies. Whoever’s on watch or traffic duty rotates out every 15 minutes. Once we finish setting everything up, we'll reorganize assignments.”
It turned out Kang Daniel became surprisingly competent the moment he put on the squad leader’s armband.
"O Heavenly Father, grant me the strength to faithfully fulfill my duty amidst this trial..."
If not for the fact he randomly clasped his hands together every few minutes to establish direct communication with Heaven, he honestly would've been a pretty solid squad leader.
Our road security squad had been assigned to an intersection in town. The objective was to reinforce security along the roads leading toward the community center.
Whenever the truck normally used by the community center for volunteer work and garbage collection arrived carrying sandbags and road obstacles, we unloaded everything and repeatedly set it up across the roads.
Even residents who still hadn’t fully grasped the reality of the mobilization order slowly started realizing something was wrong once they saw soldiers in combat uniforms physically barricading streets.
Of course, some oblivious drivers still stepped on the gas before slowing down and poking their heads out the window after spotting the blockade.
"What the hell? Why’s the road blocked?”
One of our squad members, a friendly-looking guy currently lowering a makeshift welding steel barrier, answered calmly.
"The mobilization order came down, sir. We were ordered to block the intersection. Please turn around.”
"Hey…the hell you mean, turn around? You gonna pay for my gas too? Move it. I’m driving through. What’re you gonna do about it?”
"Sir, it’s not like we want to be doing this either.”
"If you don’t wanna do it, then don’t! What kind of bullshit excuse is that…?”
It was the kind of maddening moment where both the soldier could only sigh in exasperation and the driver fume in irritation.
Meanwhile, the nearby pedestrians, pretending not to stare while obviously staring at the soldiers, became visibly more interested, focusing on the scene.
That was when one squad member with his combat jacket collar pulled up over his neck glanced at Kang Daniel and twisted his brows.
"Squad Leader, what do we do?”
"Persuasion is the best, ideally…hold on. Let me call the commander and ask for instructions.”
That was when I stepped in.
"Wait. I’ve got a good idea.”
"Huh? You were…Beak Jemin-ssi?”
Baek Jemin. 28 years old. Proudly unemployed.
A man whose lifelong dream was coasting through life with minimal suffering and maximum efficiency. And at this very moment, I had discovered the golden path that would perfectly resolve the situation.
I could see Kang Daniel awkwardly hesitating. He looked like he wanted someone else to handle it but felt too guilty to outright ask.
Which meant I should graciously fulfill his unspoken wish.
"Mister."
"Hey, who the hell are you calling ‘Mister’ with that face? I bet I pull more women at clubs than you do, punk.”
"Take a look at this.”
"The hell is this supposed to…?"
I pulled out the booklet I’d received earlier, whose real title was way too long, so I decided to just call it ‘Magic Crash Course,' flipped it open, and shoved the crooked symbol right in his face.
The driver didn’t seem to react at first.
For about 1 second, that is.
"Ugh…wai—urp."
"Mister, keep looking at it.”
"You litt…! Ugh. Gah!”
Unable to hold his rising nausea from looking at the text in any longer, the driver buried his face in the steering wheel.
"Bleeeeegh..."
and proceeded to unleash an absolutely catastrophic torrent of vomit.
Judging from the sour smell and the horrifying chunks pouring out of him, the man must’ve been suffering from serious indigestion.
With a proud expression, I tucked the Magic Crash Course booklet into my inner pocket before returning to the squad.
"He says he’ll park the car.”
"..."
Anyone incapable of using magic just because they couldn’t read the incantation was an amateur.
My very first spell had been 'Inducing Projectile Vomiting.'